Heritage of the Wolf: Framed
by The Cool Kat
Summary: Balto takes a break from enjoying the little things in life with his wife Jenna to solve a mystery that puts his new family at risk. Dedicated to Mojotheomegawolf, WolfdogmeetstheLionKing, Animation Universe, Kodiwolf321, BrytheSpy, Chickweed001, Cyberwulfe, iWolf231, and Balto1.
1. Chapter 1: Honeymoon

**_Introduction:_**

Hi guys, in case you've forgotten I'm The Cool Kat. I'm back, and it's only been eight months since my last Heritage fic, compared to twelve. I hope to shave even more months off next time. But for now welcome to the fourth installment of the "**_Heritage of the Wolf_**" series, "**_Framed_**". It was originally called "**_Leviticus_**", and had a subplot involving Blaze, Derek, and Grace and the bizarre love triangle going on but I cut that section out for three reasons.

(1) If anyone wanted to read my stories about gay and bisexual dogs they'd check out my Balto/Steele series, or my collab with Kodiwolf321. (2) It was actually pretty useless to the plot, brought the story down, and didn't gel as well as the Devil, Sam and Steele stuff did the last time. And (3) it was the first fic after Balto and Jenna's recent marriage, the thing people read the Salvation trilogy for in the first place, and I felt "**_Leviticus_**" / "**_Framed_**" should focus more on Balto and Jenna enjoying themselves, as well as those they befriended.

Besides in retrospect I now think Dixie blackmailing Blaze is suiting end to his story arc (for now anyway), and paints Dixie as a stronger, more loyal gal who's not willing to get her paws dirty for her friends, instead of just being a shallow show dog.

I actually have WolfdogmeetstheLionKing to thank for a submitting a review last time that pointed out I was slightly off focus with "**_Salvation, Part 3_**", what with all the different things going on at the same thing some didn't quite get the attention they deserved. So while "**_Framed_**" is a simpler story than the last one, I'd like to think it's also a more fun one since there's last drama and more Balto paling around his gang.

Before we begin I'd like to thank all the guys who supported me throughout the Salvation trilogy, and those who continued to support me afterwards. AniUniverse, Mojotheomegawolf, WolfdogmeetstheLionKing, BrytheSpy, Tails1/Balto1, Kodiwolf321, Chickweed001, and all the other guys who reviewed/favorited my Heritage fics, I'm eternally grateful. I'm also grateful towards Brasta Septim, That Nerd Next Door, Unshipped Corpse, MalevolentTorment, and EthanXPeaches for reviewing "**_The Revenge and Redemption of Steele_**" and my Balto/Steele series. And finally I'd like to thank DarkWolf76 for pitching ideas for gags in this fic, many of which you'll see in chapter 2.

**_Chapter 1: Honeymoon._**

_Saturday, February 14, 1925._

"**_Dreams to Dream (Tanya's Version)_**" by James Horner begins.

Jenna Jones never thought she'd consider surprises annoying. Then again, she never reckoned on having a surprise-happy husband.

The rust and cream colored husky would have felt a lot more apprehensive about walking through the forest with _her eyes shut_, if not for the fact her spouse would keep her from walking into a tree or something.

Or at least, she hoped Balto would.

As usual, he wouldn't tell her where they were going for their honeymoon, only that it was the opposite of where they held their wedding.

As she kept walking, her eager husband right beside her, guiding her, she pondered that. Their wedding ceremony took place in Balto's meadow, where the sun lit up the whole field once it reached it's highest point in the sky. So what could be the opposite of that?

Something to do with the moon Jenna supposed, since it had to be around 7:00 at night.

"Okay, we're here", Balto said from close by, and Jenna stopped where she stood. She almost opened her eyes, but then realized Balto hadn't told her to do so, and there was probably a reason for that.

"Now, tell me what you smell", he requested.

An odd request, but one she indulged; curiosity persuading her to go along with her husband's fun and games.

She smelled a variety of things - the forest, the dry night air, the wolf-dog (a distracting, attractive musk indeed), and water.

Balto, noticing the intrigued look on her face, knew she was beginning to catch on. "You know that small creek outside Nome? It leads to a river that stretches on for miles out here", he explained.

"So you took me to see the river?", Jenna asked him. Though that didn't quite add up; for a number of reasons.

"We're at the base of a cliff, where the river becomes a waterfall. And what does water do in the winter?", he asked.

It froze.

Jenna's eyes snapped open, and were met with one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

The river, a usually uncontrollable torrent of running water, laid frozen right besides them. It ran up the _massive_ cliff-face they stood beneath, towering a good fifty feet above their heads. And if it the pillar of ice wasn't beautiful enough, it reflected the night sky - including the moon and the stars and the Aurora Borealis both dogs loved so much.

It was truly amazing.

Balto sure knew how to dazzle a girl.

The wolf-dog whistled contentedly. "This is a rare sight. It only happens when the moon is full and the skies are clear. Luckily, the conditions were just right for our honeymoon", he grinned.

It took his wife a few moments to answer, still in awe, before she turned to her mate. "You're always talking about your life like it's so horrible all the time, but it can't be all bad if you get to see things like this; things so few men and women ever get to see", she exclaimed.

"Well, it is a pretty sight. But it's even better when you have someone to share it with", he admitted, sitting down in the snow to watch the lightshow.

She did the same, plopping down next to the hybrid. "So is this what every day's going to be like now? You taking me to new, exciting places and showing me nature's hidden beauty?", she asked.

Balto chuckled. "Not quite. I'll be every much the student as I am the teacher", he replied "Because if you think the world outside Nome is huge to you, you have no idea how strange and alien the world _inside_ is to me", the former outcast explained.

"I've just started learning how to be a wolf, now I'm a housedog. And even though it's what I've always wanted, I've got all these responsibilities now. I've got owners, I'm leading a dog sled team, I've got a kid to look after. I'll admit, all that stuff is a little intimidating", the half-breed confessed. "I'll probably be useless at it for the first few months", he added unashamedly.

Now it was Jenna's turn to crack a smile. "I'll make you deal. I'll help you enjoy domestic life, if you keep taking me places to escape it all every once in a while", she offered.

Balto didn't even have to think about that proposal. "I'll take you up on that", her hubby said, without a shadow of a doubt.

Satisfied, Jenna scooted over, until she was sitting side-by-side with him. And of course, once she was, she couldn't resist nuzzling her beloved on the neck.

As the sky danced, the two canines leaned into one another, eagerly awaiting the days to come.

"**_Doctor Who XI_**" by Murray Gold begins.


	2. Chapter 2: A Housedog's Life

**_Chapter 2: A Housedog's Life._**

_Monday, February 15, 1925._

A housedog needed to be clean. Of course Balto _was_ clean, about as clean as a dog could get, since the wolf-dog took semi-daily baths outside his trawler. And Thomas and Evelyn Jones had always been impressed by clean the street dog's fur was. But now that he was living with them and their daughter, they wanted to be extra precautious. It was time for their pet's first inside bath.

They regretted not being able to give him one sooner, but the past two weeks had been kinda hectic, what with the epidemic, and their sick daughter in the hospital, and their unscrupulous mayor trying to rip them away from the newest member of their household. But they were giving him one now, and of course the fully recovered, newly energized Rosie wanted to help them get the job done.

He tried not to squirm too much as both husband and wife strained to pick him up (he was a lanky hybrid, but had plenty of muscle) and lifted him over the soap and water-filled bath tub. Being held just over it, he had only one wish – that they didn't drop him. Luckily they were gentle, not wanting to hurt him or splash themselves with water, and when his feet touched the edge he realized the water was actually quite warm – tested by Rosie and her mother beforehand before they called him into their bathroom.

The redheaded girl and her redheaded dog watched, smiling, as the half-wolf's feet touched the bottom of the tub (the water going up to his belly), and he finally relaxed. When her parents moved out of the way, the girl eagerly ran forward to do her part.

"**_The World's Greatest_**" by R. Kelly begins.

She ran the soap in her hand through Balto's fur, and though it felt invading at first he got used to it soon enough, and by the time she was done he was all slicked up. Then her father handed her a towel she dunked in the water.

Balto realized, almost too late, he should close his eyes and wrenched them shut just as she started to slide the wet cloth across his soapy fur coat. The warmth, compared to the cold winter baths he was used to, was incredible.

She rinsed his back first, then his legs, tail, and neck. She was careful around the head, not wanting to get any water in his eyes, ears, mouth, or nose (knowing herself how irritating that was), and just when he thought she was done she reached for the soap and started all over again.

By the time he climbed out of the tub, onto the bathmat Tom and Eve had laid out for him, the hybrid was sopping wet – but admittedly cleaner than he'd ever felt before. Rosie was on top of him no time, with another, bigger towel in-hand to dry him off.

When bath time was over and the girl admired her handiwork, Jenna couldn't help but giggle (to her husband's embarrassment) when she saw his normally scruffy fur was now frizzy. She supposed it would settle with time. Like him.

**((()-()))**

_Tuesday, February 16, 1925._

Of course the next day's task was even more worrying for a certain wolf-dog, and nowhere near as comfortable.

He'd known it was coming, prepared for it in his mind, heard stories about other dogs who'd survived it, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

The fearless canine steeled himself as the town vet came at him with a needle that looked even bigger than the kind hospital staff used.

The doc's reassurances to Roslyn and her mother that Balto's vaccination would be relatively painless didn't placate him, and he was glad the vet's office was the one place in Nome he and his wife wouldn't have to go back to anytime soon.

**((()-()))**

_Wednesday, February 17, 1925._

Balto's intelligence never ceased to amaze Thomas.

A lot of dog owners had their pooches bring them the paper in the morning. Every morning while his wife fried the bacon and his daughter took her seat at the table, Balto would stop eating out of his dog dish long enough to go outside and fetch his paper the moment the paper boy delivered it.

Amazing. It was even more amazing since Tom hadn't done a thing to teach him that trick, he'd learned it all on his own. Just like how he found his way through a blizzard on his own.

Sometimes when he thought about how smart that dog had to be it scared him; but most times it made him the proudest man there was.

**((()-()))**

Balto was confused at first as to why Jenna wanted him to sneak under the table with her (not that he didn't enjoy sneaking around), until he noticed a few strips of bacon and pieces of toast waiting for them under the tablecloth - near Rosie's seat. The girl had been sneaking her husky scraps whenever neither of her folks were looking since she was five; and there was plenty to go around.

Jenna was a dog after his own heart.

**((()-()))**

Rosie dreamed of being the world's greatest musher; a legend like Gunnar Kaasen. And now she had _two_ of the best dogs in the world to help her. The girl cheered with joy as Balto and Jenna towed her and her new (barely used) dogsled down Front Street, waving to all her friends as they got her to school with time to spare.

Rosie tried to be a modest girl, and she hated show-offs, but like her father she was immensely proud and fond of Balto and Jenna. So when all the kids in school asked if they could pet the dog who saved their lives, she didn't object. They all deserved a chance to thank him like she did every day.

**((()-()))**

A very tired and frustrated Thomas picked up the oranges he'd been forced to drop on the floor. They were still good, but it was going to take forever to put them all back in their box again. Thanks to a certain coworker. A certain coworker who didn't look all that apologetic for bumping into him as their boss scolded the slacker. Jeff was really starting to rub him the wrong way.

**((()-()))**

Meanwhile, as he was saying good-bye to Rosie and leaving her to the rest of her school day, a very happy-go-lucky Balto ran into his teammates Nikki, Kaltag, and Star and greeted them like he did every morning.

"Married life treating you well?", Nikki asked.

"Couldn't be better", Balto grinned, glancing past them to look further down the street at his girl rubbing his wife's head farewell.

"So have you and Jenna… done _it_ yet?", Kaltag asked.

Balto's attention snapped back to him. If he'd been eating anything he would have spit it straight out. "What?", he asked dumbstruck; though he knew perfectly well what his straightforward companion had said.

Grinning mischievously, the golden yellow dog got closer to Balto and whispered, confidentially, into one of his big ears. "I said, have you and her… done the deed?", he inquired teasingly.

Balto's cheeks felt very, very hot, and very, very red. It was a good thing he had a fur coat, because he was certain he was blushing like a school girl underneath it. "That's none of your business", he retorted quickly. Though it hardly fazed Kaltag.

"Sure pal, I get it. What happens behind closed doors, huh?", he snickered, nudging the wolf-dog and ignoring his glare as he backed up. He and his compadres (who had the exact same teasing, but well-natured, smirk as him) were ready to go back to whatever it was they had been doing before.

"Just try not to stay up too late. My shoulder's good as new now and practice starts again tomorrow", he informed the self-conscious hybrid, mercifully changing the subject before he went.

Most days Balto liked having Kaltag as a friend, and respected the reformed bully as much as he did him; until he started asking him questions about his love life. Balto thanked god Jenna wasn't around for to hear that. Kal probably would have had a paw-shaped bruise on the side of his face for days.

**((()-()))**

Balto grinned as a familiar sensation set in – the feeling of being loved to death. Unlike Boris he'd gotten used to Muk and Luk's bear hugs over the years and actually kind of liked them.

"I've missed you guys too", he told the gleeful brothers once they released him (though it had only been two days since his last visit to the trawler).

The first time polar bears invaded Nome, it's townspeople were in too joyous a mood to notice much. The second time however, the large mammals attracted plenty of attention when they came to visit their favorite half-wolf (ignoring Boris' protests about how it wasn't a good idea). Now a few worried parents were starting to pull their kids closer to their sides, as they anxiously walked _around_ the bears that had wandered into the middle of Front Street in the middle of the day.

Both Balto and his father noticed. "But maybe we should put off catching up until we're in Rosie's backyard?", he suggested nervously. After all, Jenna would certainly be excited to see her favorite cousins again.

**((()-()))**

So Kaltag asked him how married life was treating him, and Balto's reply may have been a bit of an understatement. A few painful pokes and awkward moments aside, married life was a thousand times better than bachelor life. It made him wish his pals would find their special someones someday.

The best part had to be when Tom returned from work and Rosie from school; when the family turned-in for the night and he got to curl up on the rug with Jenna in front of a nice, warm fireplace. Heaven on Earth.


	3. Chapter 3: Lost Time

**_Chapter 3: Lost Time._**

_Thursday, February 18, 1925._

It wasn't like Evy was henpecking her poor husband. She wasn't the type. She liked to give her Tom space whenever she felt he needed it. But she'd kept quiet for days and days now and just watched as her beloved ran himself ragged, and she could keep quiet no longer. Balto and Jenna listened with curious ears as she made her worries known.

"You've been working later and later in the shop. I thought you'd never come home last night", she fussed.

Tom avoided her gaze and glanced down at his coffee with his tired, darkened eyes. "I'm sorry dear, but overtime is the only way I can pay Rosie's hospital bills, you know that", he replied.

"And you know that's not true", she countered.

"I want to provide for my family. I don't want to keep asking favors from your folks whenever things are a bit tight", he reminded her. Before she could say something about stubborn or stupid he was being, he quickly added "Besides it doesn't help that that lazy Jeff doesn't show up half the time. He's _this_ close to getting himself fired, and sometimes I wonder why he even wants a job. No, I wonder why Clancy even keeps him on the payroll", he corrected himself, before taking a nice, long sip of his brew.

When he put the mug down he saw how his wife was frowning at him, obviously not appreciating him getting off-topic with his ranting. "I promise you, it's only temporary", he reassured her, though as she sighed and went back to flipping pancakes, he wasn't sure she believed him.

When Rosie (finally) got her things together and came downstairs, she had no idea why her parents were being so quiet. But the dogs (feeling slightly out of place now as they ate) did.

**((()-()))**

Star waved at Dixie, and the show dog waved back. Actually the most timid of Team 51 was the most cheerful of them all as the seven dogs waited for their musher to finish his preparations.

Front Street was lined up on both sides with humans and dogs, and every single one of them was watching their every move. Dixie and Sylvie and their owners just happened to be standing close by, like the Jones clan.

"You know, practice used to be a lot private", Kaltag muttered to his gray friend besides him.

"That was before the line-up changed", Nikki reminded him.

"Yeah", Balto absentmindedly agreed with them. This was only his second training session with team 51 as their new lead dog. He'd done well in the first one, but this was different. This time everyone in Nome was out of the hospital and out on the streets, waiting to see with their own eyes how he and his now famous teammates would do. Not to mention his new (and old) family.

"As if I'm not under enough pressure already", he mumbled. His friends, standing right behind him of course, overheard.

"Hey we know how you feel pal. Every sled dog feels pressured to do an amazing job their first few times behind a sled. Well ignore that. Just do what you do best, run like crazy", his golden pal advised him.

"**_Battle in the Sky_**" by Murray Gold begins.

It sounded like the kind of pep talk a father would give his son before the big game (if Kaltag had been standing next to him instead of beside him he probably would have punched his shoulder), but it did make the hybrid feel better. After all, he was talking to a trained professional. As goofy as his teammates acted sometimes, they were more experienced than the newcomer, and they did give good advice.

"Thanks Kal", he smiled just a little.

"Anytime", the husky replied, satisfied.

Meanwhile, Rosie (who still had another hour before she had to go to school) scanned the crowd around her, knowing it was almost time. Eventually she gave up and pulled on her mother's skirt. "Mom, I don't see Jenna anywhere", she said, frustrated.

She was already disappointed her dad going to work so early meant he was going to miss out. Considering how close Balto and Jenna apparently were (she wasn't blind, she saw how much the pair hung around each other, like they were a married couple or something), she thought the red and white dog would be right by her side that morning.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere", Evelyn said reassuringly and her daughter sighed, taking her word for it. The woman looked back at the dog sled team and her face lit up. "Look, they're starting", she told the little redhead, hoping to take her mind off her other, absent pet.

Gunnar, ignoring the all the attention like his dogs were, finished 'breaking' the sled and climbed on the back, grabbing the dogs' reins. The crowded tensed as the man cleared his throat. "Mush!", he yelled, tugging on the reins, and his team shot off like a rocket.

"Whoa", Rosie grinned as they flew past her. The moment of take-off was always her favorite part.

Some folks, who had been standing a little too close, stepped back an inch when the dogs came their way.

Gunnar Kaasen was a man on a mission. What with all the roster changes, epidemics, and near-death experiences his team had gotten hardly any exercise since the serum run. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, and would probably spend most of the day running through the forest to do just that. Not that any of the dogs minded his plan.

Balto especially, who up until a few minutes ago had been so worried (again) about how much he would bring to the team. Now those worries were practically nonexistent.

The moment his feet started skating across the snow it all came flooding back to him – the feeling that came from running in a dog sled team (the kind that could never fully be described, only felt for one's self). The wind in his face, the world speeding up around him (it blurred of course but his canine eyes could still distinguish any kind of oncoming dangers). He never realized until how much he, like his teammates, had missed it all.

**((()-()))**

Jenna, knowing it had to be about time, scanned the area between Nome and the woods. When she finally found what she was looking for, leaving the village, the husky's face lit up and she quickly got the others' attention. "There he is!", she told her father-in-law excitedly.

From way up high, on the deck of Balto's old boat, the half-breed's family (Jenna, Boris, Muk and Luk) watched him run past the beached trawler. Knowing they could see him, he glanced at his wife and shot her the most earnest, kidlike smile any dog could muster.

"Go Balto!", Muk cheered, his brother imitating him.

"Living the dream", Jenna sighed happily, leaning against the ship's railing.

Boris meanwhile was happy for his son, proud of how far he had come, and saddened all at the same time; though he tried not to let it show. He didn't want anyone worrying about an old goose's loneliness, especially not his daughter. Not when she and his boy were so happy together. So he just pushed his problems to the side and cheered like all the rest.

Though he and Gunnar were surprised when Balto decided to run a lap around the raggedy old boat. Jenna giggled and Muk and Luk snickered, but Boris frowned. "Okay, now he's just showing off", he said. And Balto wouldn't have denied it.

After the wolf-dog had his fun he got the team back on track and led them further and further away from Nome, following Gunnar's instructions into the wooded area. In no time at all, they were completely out of sight.

**((()-()))**

Balto had to admit he was impressed by how easily Star dodged his attacks now. Either the smaller husky had memorized and found a way to counteract his fighting style, or his reflexes were getting faster, smoother. Either way…

"You're definitely getting better", he told his protégé as both sled dogs took a break, their friends congratulating Star on his achievement. "You all are", he added, addressing his entire, hyper as hell, team.

That morning (and afternoon), they'd all run faster and further than they ever had before during a practice run. It was exhilarating. It was like his friends all gave 110% instead of their usual 100%. Balto would never say it out loud, but he knew it was because of Steele's absence that his former flunkies finally showed the true extent of their skill. Without him there controlling them, threatening them all the time, they were actually enjoying racing again instead of just looking at it as a competition. And the fact they were so much more relaxed and comfortable running with Balto as opposed to Steele made all the difference.

Honestly, a few of his teammates could have kept running long after Gunnar decided to call it a day and return to Nome. A few of them were them still amped up and bursting with energy. Kaltag seemed to be suffusing it. The poor guy had been itching for a good run the whole time his shoulder injury forced him to take it easy. He had been only really known the sled dog for about a month now, but Balto knew Kaltag wasn't the kind of guy who liked to take anything easy.

He remembered one day earlier that week the husky had vented some of his frustrations by complaining.

_"I've been cooped up way too long", Kaltag groaned, before glaring at his bandaged shoulder._

_"Hey Dr. Welch said your bandages can come off tomorrow, and you can bet Gunnar won't waste any time putting us all to work afterwards", the hybrid reminded him._

_The big dog grumbled but nodded in agreement, knowing Balto was right. But surprisingly he still wasn't done. Something else was on his mind. "I just don't get how you're taking being out of action so well", he said._

_"What do you mean?", Balto asked, surprised and confused._

_"You were a stray for years. You went wherever you wanted, when you wanted. Now that you're housedog you've mostly been hanging around town since the day you were adopted. Aren't you, you know, bored?", Kaltag questioned. It wasn't the first time he had wanted to know how his half-breed pal thought._

_"No, not really", Balto replied. "Maybe because everything's still so new to me. And I have Jenna, and Rosie, and you guys to keep me sane", he elaborated._

_Kaltag smiled a little at that thought. "Well I guess I've been doing some good then", he reckoned._

Balto had meant to tell Jenna about that conversation, just to hear her take on it, but right after he talked to Kal he had that _horrible_ appointment with the vet and everything that had come before slipped his mind.

Balto flinched when Star's paw suddenly waved in front of his face.

"Err Balto, I'm kinda ready to continue", Star informed him. Learning self-defense had also boosted his confidence a little and made talking to people easier for the shy mutt. Well, most people anyway. Pretty show dogs barred.

"Right", Balto snapped out of it. And the pair began again. They didn't notice Dixie whisper something in Jenna's ear, or the newlywed blushing feverently.

By the time the clock tower in the center of town struck four, Star had actually managed to knock Balto down into the snow and pin him there. Well, he wasn't really holding him down… Balto could always throw the smaller dog off if he wanted to, but he was standing on top of him. And their friends were obviously impressed.

The other two members of the trinity Star belonged to patted him on the back, pleased to see their little buddy finally getting a backbone like the rest of them (it seemed like only yesterday he was just a wimp), while Star beamed at Dixie (who happily did the same).

Twice that day he had looked at her affectionately. God knows how many times he had done so in total over the years. His crush on her kept getting less and less subtle, and still he hadn't made a move towards the single woman. Maybe that would change soon now that he was getting braver.

Nah.

Balto shaking the snow off him, congratulated him as well. But his mind seemed focused on other things, and he decided that would be the end of the lesson. 4:00 meant school was out and Rosie was already home, which meant soon he and Jenna needed to be as well. His wife knew it too; she was right behind him when he made the first steps towards leaving.

"See you tomorrow guys", he told his friends, Jenna having similar parting words.

But they didn't head for home. There was somewhere they had to go first before the sun started to go down.

**((()-()))**

Ethan set the table, while Billy helped Frank in the kitchen. Considering all the kindness the old man had shown them, helping him prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner was the least the siblings could do to show their gratitude. Despite their horrific upbringing, they really were good kids. As Balto and Jenna saw from an open window.

Both husband and wife went unseen by the humans as they moved between the kitchen and dining room, moving pots and pans and plates for diner at 5:00. Sometimes, once a week, Balto liked to stop by their house and check up on them. Sometimes Jenna did the same

After all the messed-up stuff that happened to them with Sam, he just wanted to make sure they were being treated right and had the kind of life they deserved, the life their birth father could never give them. Besides, Steele wasn't around to be their protector anymore.

Though maybe, they didn't need a guardian. From what he could tell, Frank was taking real good care of them. They were safe, they were healthy, they were happy. All they were missing was…

Balto shook his head before sighing, reminding himself he couldn't help everyone. They'd seen all they needed to, so it was time for him and Jen to go back to their own home. They backed away from the window and left the kids to enjoy their evening.

About half-way home, Balto heard something… intriguing, and decided to make a detour to investigate. Doing so, the spouses turned a corner bumped right into Pete, one of the town cats.

The white cat yowled of course and jumped backwards before scowling at his larger neighbors.

"Sorry Pete", Balto quickly apologized, when the embarrassed half-breed realized his mistake.

"Sorry", his wife added just as quickly.

Luckily Pete was fairly understanding fellow. "It's alright", he muttered, before turning his attention back to what he had been looking at beforehand.

Balto followed his gaze and found the source of his disturbance. Two dogs slinging insults at each other; each one on the defensive and neither willing to back down.

Balto recognized one of them, he'd seen Shawn's face around town more than a few times, but he'd never seen the other one before. He didn't even know what they were fighting about.

But he bet Pete did.

"Pete… what's going on?", he asked slowly, not taking his eyes off the pair of short-tempered dogs in case their 'altercation' escalated.

Pete was glad to fill him in. He was like the male, feline equivalent of Dixie; he knew everything about everyone in Nome. "You see that new guy? His name's Mick and he just bumped right into Shawn… a lot like you guys did to me", he explained, frowning again at the wolf-dog who could only half-grin sheepishly in reply.

"Well I say bump, but I mean 'slam'. His running all over town is what got my attention in the first place. Not that him causing a scene is really that surprising. He's only been here for like three weeks and he's always built up quite a reputation for himself", the feline ranted, almost judgmentally.

Balto glanced at the gray husky Pete was talking about again. "He moved here a few weeks ago? I didn't notice any newcomers", he said, surprised.

"Well this _has_ been kind of a big month for us. I think we both haven't been that observant lately", Jenna reasoned, and Balto, after thinking about it, conceded that she may have had a point.

"Well I can tell you that this Mick guy is always in a bad mood. He snaps at people like he's got some kind of a chip on his shoulder", Pete told them, scowl deepening.

"_Sounds like somebody I know_", Balto thought, worry lines creasing his forehead.

"His owner's not that likeable either. People have been complaining about dogs barking in his house every night, but he's only got the one. Mick's got a big enough mouth to wake half the neighborhood all by himself", Pete gritted his teeth.

Obviously the cat meant his half of the neighborhood, but not Balto and Jenna's. They hadn't heard anything all week. _Anything_. Perhaps they had been so involved in their own little world lately that they had been oblivious to the problems of the outside one. Maybe post-wedding bliss went hand-in-hand with blissful ignorance.

They looked back at Mick and Shawn and saw their argument was now over. Thankfully it hadn't turned into a fight, and the bitter canines begrudgingly went their separate ways. But that didn't mean trouble still wasn't on the horizon. Nome, Alaska had already had it's fair share of troublemakers (Devil, Steele, Blaze), now it seemed they had to worry about yet another one.

**((()-()))**

The sun had almost set; he had to get home. He would already be home if that idiot on the street hadn't slowed him down. He just prayed he made it back before…

Just as he reached the front door to his house it flew open, like someone on the other side had been watching him approach the whole time. As he greeted him on the door step, his master did not look pleased. Just as he feared.

"Late again huh?", the man glared.

And Mick gulped.


	4. Chapter 4: Overtime

_**Chapter 4: Overtime.**_

Sundown came at 5:00, like it usually did. Thirty minutes afterwards it was closing time at Clancy's general store.

Tom yawned, admiring the shelf he just finished restocking.

He heard footsteps behind him and without having turning around he knew it was his boss. "Staying late again tonight?", Clancy asked curiously.

"Yep. I've got inventory right after this", Tom replied, moving onto the next shelf.

Clancy shook his head. "You've got to get a full night's rest sooner or later", the man reasoned.

"I've gotta make ends meet too", Thomas countered.

"You have rich in-laws", Clancy suggested.

"That I don't want to have to rely on to pay the bills every time one of us gets sick", Tom said, in a tone that said he wouldn't be swayed. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

He glanced at his manager/friend standing beside him. "You're either a real stubborn fool, or a real good husband", Clancy stated.

Tom cracked a little smile. "Well stubbornness does run in my family", he replied light-heartedly.

His boss stepped back and Tom resumed putting boxes on shelves. "Jeff and Connor have already gone for the night, and I've got to get back to my wife", he informed him.

"Let me guess, the missus will chew you out if you stay out too late?", Tom asked.

Clancy nodded. "We can't all have spouses who are willing to let us work ourselves to death", he joked.

"_Mine's none too willing either_", Tom thought in the back in his head.

Walking back up to Tom, the boss man grabbed his arm, opened his palm, and dropped a key in it. "You're gonna have to lock up when you leave", he told him.

In the two years Thomas had been working for the man, this was a first. "You'd trust me to do that?", he asked, surprised.

"You're one of my best workers", Clancy reasoned. "_And_ if you steal anything from me, I'll put the law on you, so I trust you", he added.

Tom didn't quite know what to make of that, so the tired man mustered up a smile. "Will do", he said. And just like that Clancy left (looking around one last time before walking out of the front door and closing it behind him), and Tom was all alone.

**((()-()))**

It was 7:00 by the time Tom actually locked up (by then Rosie would have returned from school, ate dinner, and was probably going to bed); he knew Evelyn was going to kill him when he got home. Which was a shame, cause the absolute last thing he'd want to do when he got back to the old homestead was argue with his wife. In fact he doubted he'd have the energy to eat the cold remains of the dinner he missed before he turned in.

The sleep deprived man could just barely keep his eyes open as he turned the key in the lock. He checked behind himself, making sure the door was really locked, before he turned and headed for home, stumbling his way down the street.

He was so glad there was no one else around to see him almost trip over his feet. He hated to admit it but Eve and Clancy were right, he couldn't keep doing this to himself. He'd either have to cave and go with Evy's idea or think of another solution to his problem.

As he left Clancy's store behind him, Tom had no clue that there actually was someone around to watch him trip over his own two feet. Pete glanced at him with one eye, only half interested in the man's actions.

Him sneaking out of the house at this hour was nothing unusual. Lots of cats liked to wander at night, prowling and doing cat things they couldn't normally do in the day. He felt a lot safer at night when Nome's huge canine populace were either sleeping or resting in the Old Mill. After what he saw that afternoon, the feline had especially decided to stay away from canids for a while. Sled dogs played just a little too rough for him.

So there he was, rooting through a trash can for some tossed-out food a cat might like and minding his own business, when something other than Tom (who had long since disappeared) caught his eye. Something interesting.

**((()-()))**

"_**Reminiscing**_" by James Horner begins.

Rosie hated to be in her dad's shoes. Tom's predictions of being chewed-out indeed came true. She'd been eavesdropping on her mother's outbursts and heard the woman _finally_ change his mind on his work schedule; he'd simply been too exhausted to disagree with her. At least he wouldn't be running himself ragged anymore.

Pretty soon it was time for her to go to bed (she was a growing girl, and didn't need to stay up too late), so she went to brush her teeth first in the bathroom just down the hall from her bedroom.

While she was doing that, her pets waited for her on the rug lying before her bed. Before they got their forty winks, they decided to discuss troubling matters. Not Mick of course, they didn't want to think about that problem until it actually became a problem. Instead, Jenna chose to vent about something that had really annoyed her earlier.

"So then she asked me if we'd 'consummated our marriage' yet", she griped, recounting what her friend Dixie had asked her that afternoon, in the middle of Star's lesson.

"Kaltag asked me the same thing", Balto told her, if it was any consolation.

Jenna scoffed, unsurprised. "It's like they have no respect for our privacy", she complained.

"I think we both gave up privacy when we befriended them", Balto smirked. "And I think the trade-off was worth it, considering many times they've had our backs when we needed them", he added.

Jenna frowned, wanting to stay angry but unable to because her mate's really good point, and sighed. "I know", the frustrated husky said.

Balto leaned towards her, arching his eyebrow mischievously. "Besides, whether or not we did actually 'consummate the marriage' on our honeymoon is something only we'll ever know", he reminded her with a whisper (a rather sexy whisper in Jenna's opinion, that brought back rather _pleasant_ memories) that turned her frown upside down. And brought a short, sweet kiss to his lips.

Rosie still wasn't back yet by the time they were done, so they switched to another related topic.

"Speaking of our honeymoon, it's been almost a week since then. Your first week as a housedog. How was it?", Jenna asked her husband.

The wolf-dog thought for a moment, furrowing his brow, and the best, singular word he could think of to describe it was "Busy".

"It'll get easier when you get into a routine", Jenna said reassuringly, being the helpful coach she promised him she would be. But to her surprise, reassurance wasn't needed.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's a good kind of busy. Better than I thought it would be", he explained before chuckling, for reasons only he knew about.

"What?", Jenna asked, knowing him well enough to know he was thinking about something.

"It's just Kaltag thought I'd get bored with being an ordinary citizen; that I'd miss 'the wild life' of a stray. But he forgets I've almost died, _three times_ in my life. Which is three times too many for me", the wolf-dog expressed, to his wife's amusement. "I _welcome_ boring and mundane. I'm in no hurry for some other life-threatening thing to happen", he stated.

"I hear that", his wife agreed with him.

Little feet pitter-pattered down the hallway and seconds later Roslyn finally joined them, dressed now in pajamas, and turning out the lights. She was careful not to accidentally step on one of them and climbed into bed, pulling the deliciously warm covers over her and closing her eyes.

Her friends didn't need any covers, they had their fur to keep them warm. They licked each other one last time and wished each other a good night before closing their eyes and letting their bodies rest for the brand new day ahead of them.

Balto was of course thinking about what he'd told Jenna. He wasn't the type who went looking for danger and excitement. The trouble was, it usually found him. And he figured it wouldn't be long before it found him again.

**((()-()))**

_Friday, February 19, 1925._

"You're doing the right thing dear", Evelyn assured her beloved, checking on the waffles.

Tom nodded but didn't reply vocally, eyes downcast at the bacon strips he was eating, and newspaper he was reading. He didn't _feel_ like he was doing the right thing. After breakfast he was going to call Clancy and ask for the day off, when he was so close to earning the last portion he needed. He felt like he was giving up.

Still he could understand why Evelyn was so relieved. She had already watched one of her loved ones come down sick, she didn't want it to happen again so soon. This _was_ the right thing to do, for his health, for her peace of mind, and his daughter's (who had seen so little of her old man lately). He'd earned more than half of the bill with his own weekly salary; that did make him feel better about needing help with the remainder. And there was no point in him sulking about it.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up from his paper. "Evy", he said.

"Yes?", she replied.

"Thanks for looking out for me", he said.

His wife smiled. "Well, someone has to", she joked. But he knew she appreciated his gratitude. They both beamed at each other for a bit before she went back to baking.

Rosie, Balto, and Jenna, though they pretended not to be listening, were all relieved things were back to normal. Tom was a big enough man to swallow his pride, and everything was going to be alright from now on. With the Jones clan at least, there was still that Mick thing.

Balto's ears pricked up; he and Jenna stopped eating. They thought they heard the dog door flap open in the other room, which meant they had visitors. Sure enough their 'circle' of friends appeared from the living room and invaded their kitchen.

They brushed past Evelyn on the way in. Most housewives would have been disgusted or horrified by seven dogs swarming around them, around their freshly cook meal. But Evelyn had been exposed to so many dogs in her life they barely even fazed her now. Especially since she recognized these as being friends of the family, the ones she always saw hanging around Balto and Jenna. A few were even part of Gunnar Kaasen's team (Nikki, Kaltag, and Star she thought was their names). So she only had one thing to say about their arrival. "Don't think I'm feeding all of you", she muttered.

And then she heard a knock on the kitchen door. More visitors; these ones human apparently since they had to knock instead of just barging in.

She made a move towards the door but Thomas, being closer to it than she was, stood up from the table. "I'll get it", he said.

Balto and Jenna were more intrigued by the company they already had. If it had just been Dixie and Sylvie who had stopped by so early in the morning (7:00 was early for them), then she would have just thought they had some gossip so juicy they couldn't wait to share it with her. But Balto's teammates being there too she couldn't explain. Nor the worried expressions on all their faces.

Then again, there was always the possibility that something was wrong. And if it was, Balto had a pretty good idea what it was about.

But before they could ask them anything, their friends were forced to step aside and make room for Tom, who moved carefully through the crowd of dogs (not wanting to step anyone's tails). When he made to it to the door, Balto immediately turned to Nikki.

"Guys, what is it? What's wrong?", he asked, skipping the usual greeting.

"You won't believe what happened last night", the chow-chow said, being unhelpfully mysterious.

Tom was in for a surprise when he opened the door. He, his wife, and his daughters didn't expect Sheriff Marcus and one of his deputies to be standing on the other side, their faces blank and emotionless.

"Mark?", Tom said in disbelief.

The sheriff didn't respond. "Thomas Jones, can you come with us for questioning?", the lawman asked, though he said it as a request the tone of his voice let the American know it wasn't.

By that point, Tom was _gaping_, not having a clue what was happening, and Balto didn't look all that different.

"We were gonna tell ya… Clancy's was robbed last night", Star filled the half-breed in, just a touch too late.

_Trouble thy name is Balto._


	5. Chapter 5: Detective Work

_**Chapter 5: Detective Work.**_

"This is insane!", Evelyn snapped at the sheriff sitting behind his desk. "You know Thomas is no thief", she insisted.

The man leaned forward in his chair. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but my hands are tied", he replied. It would be a lot easier to stay mad at him if he was patronizing her, but he wasn't. Marcus, unlike some authority figures (cough… the mayor… cough), was a good man. That didn't mean she was ready to give up being angry.

"Honey it's not that bad", her husband said, hoping to calm her down.

She looked away from the sheriff, towards her spouse. "Not that bad? You're behind bars!", she said incredulously.

She was not pleased by the line of tall, iron bars separating the two of them.

"No charges have pressed yet, they're just keeping me here for questioning for a while", he said in the same even tone.

"In a jail cell?", she said sarcastically.

"Small town, small jailhouse. They don't have a room built specifically for questioning folks like precincts in New York might have", Tom reasoned, and Marcus nodded, agreeing with him.

"_Well maybe our mayor should invest in a bigger jailhouse instead of harassing animals_", she thought bitterly, and almost said it out loud but just barely restrained herself.

She sucked in a deep breath as she allowed her anger to subside. "Honey, no matter how much you try to placate me, it's impossible for me to stay calm at a time like this. Sure no charges have been pressed yet, but if your boss really thinks you stole from him you could be in here for _years_", she said, sad eyes glistening as tiny tears began to form under them.

Both Marcus and Tom watched sympathetically as the woman began to break down.

"Lately it's just been one problem after another for us. Like the universe keeps trying to tear my family apart, tear them away from me", she said, hoping he would understand. He did of course.

The man got as close to the bars as he could, so close his face pressed against two, and stuck his arm through open space. Reaching up he cupped Evy's face, softly wiping away her tears before they had time to grow, and comforting her in a way only he knew how to do.

"Things are bad now, but you have to trust I'll make them better. I'll talk to the police, answer all the questions they ask me. I'll talk to Clancy, he knows me as well as Mark does, he knows I'm no criminal. We'll get this whole mess all straightened out", he said, their roles of supporter and supportee flipped from that morning.

"Right now Rosie needs you. Like you said this family's been through some scary stuff lately and she's probably been taking it the hardest out of all us. I bet she needs a mother to calm her down right about now before she goes to school", he rationalized.

"If she even wants to go to school", she said, groaning as she thought about how cut up her daughter had to be. Thomas was right, there was nothing she could do and she had to go. She didn't want to, but she had to.

Tom saw that change, that decision-making, in her drying eyes. "I'd kiss you good-bye if I could", he told her, and she nodded, thinking the same. "Give her hug from me", he requested.

The woman sniffled, silently agreeing, and stepped back. The first backwards steps towards the jailhouse door were the hardest. "I'll be back", she promised, to both Tom and herself.

He waved, smiling hopefully, but that made it only harder for her to wrench her gaze away from him and turn towards the door. It killed her to leave him there.

And it wasn't easy for Thomas to watch her leave either, no matter how many unconvincing grins he slipped onto his face. Grins that faded almost immediately after the door closed and he was left alone with Mark.

He felt a pang of guilt about lying to Evy the way he did, even if it was to help her, since he knew how much she hated being patronized. The truth was he was in quite pickle. Whoever set him up set him up good, and 'straightening things out' wasn't going to be as easy as he made it sound. Not easy at all.

**((()-()))**

Two women conversed in their living room, with seven dogs watching them from close by.

"Are you sure daddy's okay?", a nervous and skeptical Rosie asked her clearly rattled mother. She could just look at her and tell she'd been crying recently.

"Daddy's gonna be just fine. In fact, he told me to give you a big hug from him", Eve replied, picking up her daughter and wrapping her arms around her. Rosie let her head rest in her mom's neck for a moment, and the older woman allowed her to do so… probably because she needed the hug as much as she did.

"I don't like this mommy", Rosie said quietly.

Eve opened her mouth, paused, and then closed it again. "I don't either", she admitted.

"I wish we could all be together again", the little one confided in her elder.

"I do too", Evy agreed wistfully, before she set her daughter down and pulled herself together again. "But this is only temporary. It'll pass. Right now you've got to get to school", she stated.

Rosie's face fell (further). "Do I have to?", she whined.

"Yes, and it'll pass the time dear", Eve replied.

Of course the girl moaned and groaned some more, but she knew it would do no good. Her teeth were clean, she was already dressed, _and_ she was fed (from that breakfast cut short), so her mother took her by the hand and led her towards the door. Still, at least a day of learning things _would_ take her mind off her absent father until he returned from wherever the men in blue had taken him.

Balto could feel his heartstrings being pulled. The wolf-dog would have to have had a heart made of stone to not feel sorry for the family's predicament. His friends all felt the same, since they found themselves sniffling as the humans left. And not just his wife's show dog buddies, his more 'macho' teammates as well. It was the first time he'd ever seen Steele's old gang so close to tearing up.

Kaltag, unable to stand by any longer, glanced at the hybrid. "Boss, what are we gonna do?", he asked, turning to Balto for answers.

Luckily he and Balto were on the same page that day. "We're gonna prove Tom's innocence", the half-wolf replied.

"How?", Sylvie questioned.

"We're gonna go to the scene of the crime and do some investigating of our own", Balto decided.

**((()-()))**

After the police got through asking their first round of questions (stuff like his whereabouts the night before, and what he remembered doing from the night before), Tom got another visitor to his lonely cell. Like he figured he would, Clancy indeed came to confront the man who'd 'robbed' him.

"I can't believe you did this. You've worked for me for years, I trusted you, you were a friend of mine", Clancy glared at him; his joking, lighthearted mood from the night before replaced with a cold, judging callous.

Tom was quick to defend himself. "I _am_ your friend, I've worked for you since my first week in Nome, that's why I could never do this", he insisted.

"That's what I thought at first, when I came in this morning and found all of yesterday's profits missing from my safe. I didn't want to believe it, I thought there had to be some other explanation. Maybe it was Jeff, he _is_ the new guy. But there were no broken windows, no sign of forced entry. Whoever got in used a key, and there's only two keys to the store; the one I gave you last night and the one I used to get in this morning. Which means you had the means and motive – you needed the money and you weren't making it fast enough. It _had_ to be you. So after I thought it over, over and over again, I contacted the police", Clancy glowered.

Tom stared at him in disbelief. "Aren't you gonna at least question Connor and Jeff?", he scowled.

"Oh I plan to, but the police can only investigate one person at a time. And right now you're their top priority, the prime suspect", Clancy replied.

The two men didn't say anything for a while, staring/glaring at each other, before Clancy's expression softened a little and the man rubbed his face.

"I don't want to believe you betrayed me Tom", he said.

"Then don't", Tom said, almost like a growl.

"They'll release you this evening and when they get a warrant to search your house I almost hope they don't find anything. I hope it's not your prints they find on my safe. Cause as much as I want this case solved as quickly as possible I don't want to find out someone I thought was my friend would stab me in the back for fifty dollars", he said, letting a little of his anger go so he wouldn't come off so judgmental. And as a result, Tom was starting to calm down as well, realizing the boss man was in a hard place too.

"But right now, in my eyes, I'm afraid you're guilty until proven innocent", Clancy stated.

**((()-()))**

It wasn't easy being part of Nome's finest. Sometimes it was just damn frustrating. Like today. The sheriff had asked O'Reilly plain and simple to keep watch on Clancy's store and not let anyone interfere with the crime scene, and that was exactly what the deputy was doing, and had been doing for several hours now. At least until some mutt came up to him and starting nudging his leg.

He tried ignoring at him first, but that only seemed to make him more persistent. The golden yellow pooch bumped his nose against his leg even harder. Then he tried shooing him away and the dog only ran to his _other_ leg. Finally he started swinging said leg at him. He wasn't really gonna kick the dog (he was a police officer, he knew better than to hurt some civilian's pet), he just needed to trick him into thinking he was gonna hurt him. But it had the opposite effect than the one desired. The husky started barking and making a scene.

And then his pals, a chow-chow and a smaller husky, appeared out of _nowhere_ and started mobbing the man. Barking and running circles around him. He tried swinging his arms and legs at them, but they'd only back up a few inches and then come right back at him again. They were like sharks, toying with him, trying to psych him out. And eventually their mind games began to take it's toll. Even the most seasoned and controlled officer would have lost it like he did.

"Get away!", the man yelled, swinging his arms wildly and running in circles of his own to persuade the troublesome mutts.

The passerbies on the street had a good laugh that day.

The man was so busy freaking out he didn't notice two more dogs slowly and careful slinking in through the front door behind him, sneaking into Clancy's unseen.

Balto really didn't like harassing the poor man like that, but Tom needed them and he was kinda in the way. He'd find some way to make it up to him later.

As for Nikki, Kaltag, and Star, they were certainly team players. He owed them for this, and made a mental note to be slightly less standoffish the next time they asked him about sex.

"So what now?", Jenna asked once they were safely inside, weaving through the aisles of food, feed, and canned goods.

"We catch a thief's scent", Balto replied. It wasn't hard to find what they were looking for – Clancy's office; which had thankfully been left unlocked, like the front door, by the police. Pushing the door open with his snout, the canine detectives crept inside.

"Cause the way I see it, only two people have put their hands on Clancy's safe recently – the only two people who knew they could get in. Clancy and the thief", Balto explained, finding the black, steel box lying in the right-hand corner of the room.

The wolf sniffed the miniature vault from top to bottom, twice, but looked perplexed when he was done. Jenna was about to ask what he was thinking when he spoke up.

"Well we know for sure it's not Tom. In fact whoever I'm smelling, I have no idea who they are", the wolf-dog told his wife. And her face fell.

Outside, when _two more_ dogs started chasing him, it took all of Officer O'Reilly's strength not to reach for his gun and make man's best friend think twice about messing him. They were so lucky they all had collars. Instead he had to settle for throwing _snowballs_ at them. Talk about degrading.


	6. Chapter 6: Deductive Reasoning

_**Chapter 6: Deductive Reasoning.**_

Evelyn Jones had never felt more useless in her life.

Everyone kept telling her to wait, to be patient – Tom, the authorities. And she tried doing that. Honestly she had. She'd dropped Rosie off at school, she washed the dishes that had been piling up since the morning, she cleaned all the rooms in the house (that ate up a good two to three hours). She found plenty of distractions. But the trouble started when she ran out of them.

She had nothing more to do and could think of nothing else except sitting in one of the living room chairs and waiting the rest of the day out. She supposed she could have went out and visited the neighbors, passed the time with them. But they would have all heard about the robbery at Clancy's and Tom 'connection' to it by now, and would only want to bombard her with questions about it. She didn't want to deal with that right now. She was trying to _forget_ about all that. Trouble was she couldn't either way.

Without something to keep her mind busy all she could think about was how miserable and lonely Thomas had to be at that police station, sitting around like her, alone like her, and being grilled for info about a crime he knew nothing about – a crime he'd slept through on the other side of town.

She really doubted the justice system was looking for proof of his innocence, but searching for what they wanted to find – some damning, flimsy piece of evidence they could use to decide his guilt, condemn him, and then do absolutely nothing to find the real criminal.

Maybe that was just her fear talking, and maybe she was selling Nome's finest short, but lately after their conflict with the mayor she didn't really trust 'the system' anymore. She didn't even trust her own neighbors as much as she used to; not when so many of them were willing to discard and undermine her judgment, and persecute an innocent soul. She was terrified of that happening again.

Thomas was her husband, she was his wife. They looked out for each other, they helped each other. And now, when it really counted, she could do nothing for him.

Or so she had thought.

Now she knew how she was gonna pass the time, and find a way to help Tom's case. Bundling up, she decided it was time to do a little snooping. And she knew just who to look into first.

**((()-()))**

Seven dogs combined their brainpower inside the Old Mill.

Balto had hardly paid any attention to Dixie and Sylvie's complaints about getting hurt in the line of duty (apparently man-made snowballs stung more to a dog than a human; Balto never knew), he was too busy thinking. He'd been thinking for a while, trying to narrow down the infinite number of suspects. He was pretty sure he had it figured out now though. So he had something to tell Star the twentieth time the husky went over what he had learned.

"So whoever's the culprit it's someone you've never smelled before, right? So admit it Balto, are we or are we not, still at square one?", the husky asked exasperatedly.

"Oh, I think we're way further along than square one", the hybrid replied. He turned to the whole group lying down around him. "Lately Tom's been complaining about this new coworker of his, Jeff. I've never met the guy, and he's just as close to all this as Tom is", Balto explained.

"But why get a job working somewhere when you know you're just gonna rob the place? It makes no sense", Kaltag reasoned, shaking his head.

"Maybe he wanted to case the joint?", Nikki suggested, a very good suggestion actually.

But Balto had an even better one all worked out. "Or maybe he got impatient", the wolf-dog said.

**((()-()))**

Tom was so sick of questioning. It was 2:00 for Christ's sake! When were they ever going to let him go?

During the last session his impatience started to get the better of him. When one officer walked into the cell with him he asked him how he could have possibly robbed Clancy when he didn't know the combination to his safe. The man's response was that if he wanted to speculate he had been working at the store long enough to see Clancy unlock it, _or_ he found the combination and wrote it down, _or_ he was a possible master at safe-cracking, since no one in Nome really knew anything about his old life in South Dakota. Tom told him to skip the speculating after that and just get to the questions.

Marcus was gone now. The sheriff had been called to the crime scene again by one of his deputies' complaints about being harassed while doing his duty. So now Tom had to wait for him to get back. After a while he got tired of pacing (idly wondering if he would wear a hole in the floor eventually), and laid down on the bed every jail cell (no matter how small) came with.

He was even starting to get tired of seeing the same gray walls, faded ceiling, and black bars surrounding him. Feeling particularly (and justifiably) lazy, he let his eyes wander around the room – looking for something, anything, to capture his interest that he might not have noticed (or scrutinized a million times) before. It didn't take him long to find something; a bunch of paper plastered on the wall behind Mark's desk. Wanted posters of _real_ criminals.

Tom chuckled; that thought brought him a little comfort. The knowing that while he was in jail like a criminal and being questioned like one, he hadn't done anything wrong, unlike the wanted men on the wall. They were the ones who really belonged in his cell.

Outlaws like…

Tom's eyes narrowed, and then they focused in on the poster they had absentmindedly raked over a moment before. Reexamining it, studying it to make sure they weren't wrong. And when Tom realized they were indeed correct, he didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified. He settled for the latter.

"_Oh no_", he whispered.

**((()-()))**

Eve had looked over her shoulder so many times now. Sure it was the back door, and sure she was a hidden out of sight by a fence (that _wasn't_ broken, unlike hers that she really needed to get fixed), but she was _breaking the law_.

She had already stuck her hand over someone's gate and unlocked it in broad daylight, and now she was on the ground sticking her arm up their dog door to try to unlock their backdoor and break into their house. Rosie already had one parent behind bars, did she really need two?

Evelyn shook her head and reminded herself why she was doing this. She convinced herself that the ends justified the means. Besides, if anyone had seen her sneaking into Jeff's lawn they would have called the police or investigated themselves by now.

Stretching her arm as far as it would go, she almost died with relief when she felt the tip of her fingers grasp a lock. It was no easy effort turning it, but she dug deep and pulled it off, letting herself collapse on the ground when she heard that familiar 'clicking' sound.

Laying there for a moment she caught her breath before she got right back to work and stood up, pushing the door (to someone else's home, god it felt so wrong) open. Once she was inside she quickly closed it behind her, unable to shake the feeling someone was watching her and knew what she had done.

No one was home thankfully, and she had the whole place to herself – for a little while. She couldn't afford to waste time. If Jeff really was the guilty party, where would he hide his ill-gotten gains?

Obviously, he wouldn't put it somewhere someone could stumble upon it accidentally if they chose to visit him. So that meant there were two prime places to look – the attic and the basement. And since, from what she could tell, Jeff's house wasn't the kind that had an attic, the basement it was.

She found the stairs pretty easily, and just had her foot on the first one when she heard something that made her stop in her tracks. A dog barking. One of many sounds a person didn't want to hear when they were breaking and entering.

Jeff had a dog.

And just like that, things got a lot more dangerous.

Jeff had a dog she knew nothing about. She didn't know if it was friendly, she didn't know if it bit intruders. The only thing she knew was that there was one in the basement, standing between her and a possible break in the case.

Trespassing was one thing, being mauled was another thing entirely. She had stop and think about that risk. And while she did, the barking kept getting louder and louder.

She inched back, fearing that the dog knew where she was. And the noise kept getting louder; _too loud_. Too loud for one dog alone to make, and she _would_ know all about how noisy a dog could be (Jenna had kept her and family up many times when she was a puppy).

"_**Midnight**_" by Murray Gold begins.

She realized it wasn't one pooch, but two, then three, then four. Four individual voices blending together, and the number kept growing until eventually it sounded like there was a whole pack beneath her.

"_What the...?_", she thought, mystified. And she found herself walking down the stairs, wanting to know more. Instead of scaring her away, like they almost had initially, they were drawing her in.

**((()-()))**

Marcus had no clue why Thomas practically demanded to see one of the wanted posters up close as soon as the sheriff returned, but it seemed like a pretty harmless request so he granted it, eyeing Tom warily as he snatched the paper from his hand.

"His name's Geoff. He and his partner Keith are co-conspirators of a dog-fighting ring shut down in Nenana a few months ago. Both men were never caught", the sheriff explained, filling Tom in a few things that might not have been on the mug shot.

"He's my coworker", Tom whispered.

Either Tom was delirious or Marcus needed to have his ears checked. "What?", the lawman said, now considering a third option – that Tom was pulling his leg.

"_I've been working next to a criminal this whole time_", Tom thought, mind reeling. He just stared at the poster for a few moments, taking in the all-too familiar face on it, before another thought occurred to him. "_No wonder he's so ill-tempered, and his alias could use some work_", he noted, brow furrowing.

"Call Clancy and get him down here", he told the baffled sheriff.

**((()-()))**

Unsurprisingly, when Evelyn reached the bottom of the stairs it was too dark for her to see anything. So doubling back up the staircase she turned on the lights, and everything became so much clearer. Every chilling thing.

She saw cages, lots and lots of cages, a dog in each one. Some black, some white, some gray, like the husky who whined when she came up to his container. He looked so… sad. So damaged, unlike the lively sled dogs Gunnar Kaasen rode with every week. There were canines of all shapes and sizes present, but they all had one thing in common. They were all battle-scarred.

"Impressive isn't it?", someone said proudly and the woman nearly leapt into the air. Whirling around, she realized she had company. He was tall, had dark green eyes with a rather shifty look to them, dull slightly yellowed-teeth he had obviously neglected, and broad shoulders. Jeff she presumed.

"I bought half these dogs, won the other half", the man declared.

For a moment she wondered if he had just got back or if he had always been inside (napping or hiding) the whole time she was sneaking around. But then her terrified mind realized it didn't matter.

He just kept grinning at her.

"They're… they're scarred", she said, swallowing her fear. "You've been making them fight", she said, mustering up the courage to glower.

"It's how I make a living. Or it was until I was found out", he replied, her judging words having no effect on him on him whatsoever. "I spent months moving from one place to the next, staying one-step ahead of the law, until I wound up in this one-horse town. I've been here a month now trying to scrounge up a little cash", he grimaced.

"You mean steal a little cash", Evy growled, and Jeff raised his eyebrow.

"It's how I got my start", the man shrugged.

"And you're gonna let my husband take the fall for you", Eve said venomously, fear now completely dissipated by anger at the petty thief.

"Collateral… damage", the man said flippantly, putting slow emphasis on each word.

"I wouldn't have to pin it on your hubby if our salaries weren't so damn small. I didn't have the money I needed yet and neither did he, which made him the perfect man to frame. So if all this is anyone's fault, it's our boss for not raising the worker's wages years ago", Jeff added defensively.

"Besides, I need the money to get out of here before the dogs attract too much attention, or someone realizes we didn't actually _buy_ this house", he continued.

"_We_?", Eve repeated, eyes widening.

The man's smirk returned. "Yeah, Keith's working on our way out of town right now. He'll find someone who doesn't ask questions to help us move the dogs out before the boys in blue wise on", Jeff explained.

Eve's eyes slowly moved away from him and towards the stairs behind him, wondering if she could get past him long enough to make it to them. "Why are you telling me all this?", she asked.

"Because I feel like complaining to someone, and because you'll never get to tell anyone", he replied, matter-of-factly. And that was scariest part. "No one will follow us if we have a hostage", he said, his voice taking a new, malicious edge. And then he started making those advances towards her Eve had long seen coming.

"You'll never get away with this, you coward", she said, staring daggers at him.

"Sticks and stones lady", was his simple reply. "Oh and I'll tell you one other thing. The few weeks I've been here, I've heard quite a lot about your dog, like how he outran a champion like Steele easy. Either folks in Nome really love their tall tales or that wolf-dog's got some fight in him. He's just the kind of dog I could use", he declared.

"No! You stay away from him!", the woman snarled, now face-to-face with the criminal.

He looked almost amused by her threat. "No", he mouthed slowly, before he side-swiped her. She fell to the cement floor, unconscious upon impact.

Not quite done yet, he leaned down next to her. "With you here, and your husband in the clink, nothing's gonna stop me. I am getting back in the game, and that wolf-dog's gonna make me rich, or die trying", he said confidently.


	7. Chapter 7: Hero Complex

_**Chapter 7: Hero Complex**__**.**_

"The thief was someone I've never smelled before, and I've never heard of anyone named Jeff living here in Nome before now, so he's gotta be a newcomer. If these two _are_ one and the same, maybe he didn't plan on staying very long", Balto theorized to his friends.

"Because he _can't_ stay long?", Jenna guessed.

"Exactly. He needed fast money, and honest work just wasn't cutting it", Balto replied.

"But why?", Sylvie asked.

"I… don't know", Balto admitted, his enthusiasm waning. "It's just an idea anyway. We need proof. We need to check him out", he said.

"But we don't know where he lives. He could have stashed the loot anywhere in Nome and it'd take forever checking every house", Nikki argued. And the chow-chow unfortunately made a good point. It was already well past noon, and in four or five more hours it would be nightfall. Time was of the essence.

The doors to the Old Mill opened, cold air blowing in for just a few seconds, and Balto, half-interested, turned his gaze towards them.

A nervous, shivering (whether it was from the cold or anxiety Balto wasn't sure) feline walked inside, watching both sides of the room at once and keeping a close eye on the dogs he passed by in case one of them tried to make a move. However the lazy canines were only mildly amused by his fear of them (Balto's teammates included). For a cat who hated being around dogs, this was like walking into a lion's den (ironically).

To Balto's surprise, Pete finally stopped when he reached the wolf-dog and his gang. "There you are. I've been looking for you all day. You weren't at home, so I had to look all over Nome until I came here", Pete griped, before looking behind him again. And Balto used that opportunity to stop his ranting before he got too into it.

"Erm, why exactly were you looking for me?", he asked the cat.

Pete leaned in close and whispered into the half-breed's ear. "The store where your owner works was robbed last night", he informed him.

Balto frowned, irritated. "I know", he replied dryly.

"But did you know that the guy who did it broke in right after he left? And he used a key to do it?", Pete asked, grinning as the wolf-dog's face changed from bored to surprised. It was the same with his friends.

Balto snapped his head around to get a better look at the cat. "Who was it?", he asked urgently.

"I have no idea", Pete replied, and Balto's face fell again. "But I know where he went", he added, and Balto's spirits lifted. "And I would have told you sooner if I hadn't had so much trouble finding you", he started to complain once more, but Balto wasn't in the mood to listen.

"Can you take us there?", the hybrid stood up.

**((()-()))**

Balto and his pals made sure they stayed just out of sight as they watched the house across the street, or rather the fence around the house since that was all they could see at their height.

"You sure that's the place?", Balto asked his feline informant.

"Positive. Mick's place. The guy who left with the money wasn't his owner, but I always knew there was something no good about that dog", the cat replied, gritting his teeth.

Balto tried to ignore the feline's rather biased view on things. "Alright, I'm gonna go take a look. You guys hang back", he told his teammates.

"But boss…", Kaltag started to protest. He hated being left out of things.

"If something goes wrong, I need you to either be here to back me up or go for help", the wolf-dog explained.

"I'm okay with that", Dixie decided quickly.

"Me too", Sylvie agreed.

"Uh-huh", Pete nodded.

Nikki and Star had no problem with the plan as well, while Kaltag grumbled for a few moments before he too resigned to his role to play.

"And Kaltag-", Balto continued.

"Yeah?", Kal asked, still sulking a little.

"I'm 'boss' on the job, off-duty I'm just Balto", the wolf-dog requested with a grin before he took off across the street.

As he went, Kal couldn't help but think the guy had a real hero complex. Not in the same way as Steele, who always _had_ to be a hero. More of he always had to rush into danger to save someone and keep everyone else safe at the same time, while putting himself at even more risk.

Jenna watched him go and then leaned over towards Kaltag. "Wanna bet he'll need us?", she whispered.

"How much?", the bulky husky asked back.

**((()-()))**

The first odd thing Balto noticed when he got to the fence was that the gate was unlocked, and cracked open, which kinda defeated the purpose of having one. And the second odd thing was that Eve's scent was all over it. Rosie's mother. She'd been here… recently too. Maybe she'd had the same idea he did.

Worried, the wolf-dog slipped through the gate (making as little noise as he could), slinked across the yard, and then shimmied through the new neighbor's dog door.

He followed her scent inside the house; and he didn't feel any better when hers mixed with someone else's. Eve had definitely been there before him, and she had company. Hopefully friendly company. But somehow the wolf-dog doubted that.

Her trail led to the basement, so he snuck down the staircase with caution, forgetting all about his original reason for snooping. He had to know what his owner had been doing in her husband's co-worker's house.

Unlike Evelyn before him, the wolf-dog couldn't reach the light switch (if he tried standing on two legs he'd fall down the stairs and break his back). Luckily he didn't need the lights to see, his lupine night vision suited him just fine.

So the wolf-dog was just as horrified as his master had been by the sight that greeted him – a dozen dogs in cramped cages. Including Mick.

The imprisoned husky looked his way. "Balto… you're Balto", he realized, eyes lighting up.

"Why are you...?", Balto asked him, when his ears heard a creaking sound behind him and he whirled around. The room lit up and the hybrid flinched, squinting his adjusting eyes.

Jeff was standing on top of the stairs, having been attracted by his dogs' barking. He had one hand on the light switch and another one cradling a _cast-iron skillet_ he no doubt planned on using as a blunt weapon.

The man sneered. "Good thing I was expecting more trespassers. Well, looking forward to them really", he said, more to himself to the half-wolf, as he walked down towards him. "Though is it really trespassing when the house isn't yours in the first place?", he thought aloud, before he shook his head. "Ah who cares?", he decided.

"I hope you got a nice good look at those cages mongrel, cause one of them's your new home from now on", he jeered, thumping his palm with the non-too light kitchen pan.

Balto growled, unintimidated and ready to fight the man off.

**((()-()))**

Six dogs and cats waited impatiently in an alleyway; a few of them even pacing anxiously as the minutes ticked by.

"Is it just me, or has he been in there for way too long?", Pete finally spoke up.

"Something must be wrong", Jenna decided, having already seen this development coming.

"The bo- I mean, Balto needs us", Kaltag declared; ready, and almost eager, for action.

The two canines were the first to run towards the mouth of the alley, but they weren't the last. Nikki, Star, Dixie, Sylvie, and Pete were right behind them, but they didn't get far before Jenna and Kaltag stopped them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You heard the man. We can't all go running in there", Kaltag told them.

"Someone needs to get help if it comes to it. Enough someones to get the humans' attention", Jenna agreed.

"Which is not an easy thing to do", Kal remarked.

"Just be careful girl", Dixie warned her friend. Jenna nodded, and with those words of caution imparted on her the husky left her friends behind to go check on her husband, his fellow sled-dog accompanying her.

While the two of them slipped through the opened gate, the remaining animals were worried enough to start biting their fingernails, if they had fingers.

And then there were five.

More minutes passed.

Somehow the hands on the clock tower went from 2:15 to 2:25 in no time at all. And there was no sign of their chums.

"Is it just me, or have _they_ been in there way too long?", Pete asked again.

Dixie whimpered.

Star turned to Nikki. "Go for help?", he suggested.

"Go for help", the chow-chow agreed.

And they ran out of that backstreet like dogs out of hell. Devil dogs.

**((()-()))**

On the bright side of things, Marcus had finally let Thomas out of the holding cell, and the man was free to stretch his legs again – so while the sheriff chose to wait in his chair the suspect remained upright and moving around. A few of the lawman's deputies chose to do the same.

It'd taken forever to get ahold of Clancy (either he wasn't home or wasn't answering his phone), but when the sheriff finally did get ahold of him nothing really seemed to have changed because then Thomas had to wait further still for his boss to get dressed and walk across town. By the time he actually did get there, an hour later than the family man would have liked, Tom felt like he could bend the bars of his cell with his bare hands, he was so impatient.

The door to the jailhouse opened and Clancy (looking torn, almost guilty) stepped inside.

"Clancy, I need you to-", he started, the wanted poster gripped tightly in his palm.

"Hold on a minute Tom, before you go on any further there's something I have to say", his boss politely interrupted.

"But-", Thomas argued, but the man held up his hand to stop him and the American groaned.

Clancy folded his arms. "I'm actually glad you called me down here. You see after our last falling out, I went home and had a talk with the wife. She told me I was being an 'irrational idiot'. She always did have a way with words", he mused.

"That's great, now-", Tom said tiredly.

"Please, let me finish", Clancy insisted, and his employee ground his teeth, wondering just when he'd finally grind them to dust. His aggravation subsided however when he saw how his employer squeezed his arm and bit his lip. He looked like he was about to do something no man particularly liked doing, something Thomas had had a lot of experience with – swallowing one's pride and admitting they were wrong.

"I thought about what she said for a while, and I realized she was right. You said it, I said it too - you're supposed to be my friend. I know you well enough to know you're as stubborn as me, but you're not a thief. You love your family, and you'd never do something like this to them, no matter how desperate you were. I mean lately you've been working yourself to bone so you wouldn't have to do things the easy way, and I should have given you the benefit of the doubt instead of… Well let's just say my actions today have been the opposite of trust", he said, ashamed. He took a deep breath.

"So I came here to apologize", he said.

Tom blinked. "Really?", he asked.

The man made a silent gesture that equaled 'yes'.

Tom blinked a few times before he cleared his throat. "Well, your apology's accepted then, I guess", he decided. It was a lot easier to be accepting and understanding when he wasn't sitting in a cell. His hand tightened around the wanted poster he had momentarily forgotten and he remembered just what he had wanted, or rather needed to tell his boss before he got sidetracked.

"There's more", Clancy continued.

"It'll have to wait", Tom quickly interrupted, stepping forward and handing him the crinkled, folded-up paper, the sheriff of Nome right behind him.

"We need you to ID this man", the head policeman explained while Clancy read the criminal's stats.

The store owner's eyes grew wide and his voice lowered. "My god, it's Jeff", he realized, barely louder than a whisper but loud enough for the sheriff and his men to hear him.

Marcus snatched the poster from his hand. "Thanks, that's all we needed to know", he replied, turning to his officers.

"Okay men before we leave remember that the suspect is probably armed and dangerous so be on the lookout. We're also in an area full of civilians so do not use force unless force is absolutely necessary", he advised them.

Clancy's mind however was still reeling. "I hired… a criminal?", he said, sounding almost like he was in denial. Tom, in return, patted him on the shoulder.

And then there was a loud bump behind them, like something had just slammed into the door.

Intrigued, Mark went over to answer it when the unlocked door flew open and a little girl stumbled inside, followed closely by a crusade of assorted animals.

Officer O'Reilly recognized them all them. "You!", he hissed at the sled dogs who'd harassed him.

"Dad!", Rosie exclaimed, running towards the father she hadn't seen since that morning.

More than paternal instincts, common sense as well, told Tom something had to be wrong if his little girl showed up at the police station without her mother by her side. And Balto and Jenna were nowhere to be seen either, he noticed. "What is it?", he asked the panting, sweaty child.

"I came home from school and mom's not there. I thought she'd be here, with you", she explained hurriedly.

"I thought the same", he replied, his mind racing from the new turn of events. If Evy was missing, that meant there was a chance she'd… "_No, she wouldn't_", he thought. And then he remembered the teary, pained expression on her face as she left him alone earlier that day. "_She would_", he groaned.

"She knew all the details of this case, she knew Jeff was a suspect too, she must have gone looking for him. If he's hurt her…", he growled, balling his fist.

Rosie's fear grew. There was a chance her mother could be hurt? "We've got to find her dad", she pleaded with the man.

"Well it's a small town; it shouldn't take long to find out where this Jeff guy lives. If he hasn't already packed up and moved on", Mark stepped in.

"No, he couldn't have skipped town this fast. We'd know if he had", Tom reasoned. And then he finally turned his attention to the dogs and cats that hadn't stopped barking and yowling the whole time they were talking (they'd just been ignoring the racket).

The man crouched down until he and the animals were at face level. "And I'd say it shouldn't take us any time to find him, since these guys know where they are", he grinned.

"You really think _they_ can lead us to him?", Clancy asked skeptically.

Thomas's lips curved even further. "Trust me, they may not talk, but there's a lot people can learn from dogs; and cats too I suppose", the American replied, taking note of the feline he didn't recognize among his dog's many canine friends.

"I for one trust them", Marcus spoke up, remembering how Balto lead him to a maniacal Samuel not too long ago. The lawman turned to his deputies again. "Alright men, let's follow the dogs", he decided, an order that admittedly sounded weird even to him.

"Wait. Sheriff, do you think one of them could stay here and make sure my daughter doesn't follow us again?", Thomas asked.

"But I wanna help m-", Rosie protested.

"No buts missy. I'm not gonna let you almost get yourself killed like last time. One member of my family could already be in harm's way, I'm not gonna make it two", Thomas told her.

And Rosie, knowing that was her father's final decision, scrunched up her face and walked off to go pout somewhere.

When she did her dad's face softened and he turned to the sheriff. He hated having to get stern with the girl but she honestly had no idea how serious and dangerous the situation was. A professional criminal was twice as deadly as a drunkard running wild with a shotgun.

Marcus indeed asked one of his men to keep an eye on the girl, and with that last loose-end taken care of, the police force (with two civilians in tow) set out to catch themselves a dog fighter.


	8. Chapter 8: Teamwork

_**Chapter 8: Teamwork.**_

Jeff looked out the window before the sneering man opened the door to his home.

"Why was the gate unlocked?", Keith demanded as he brushed past his partner. Being a crook and everything, he had never been one for formalities like saying 'hello' and 'good-bye' and 'how have you been Jeff?'.

"Let's just say we won't be leaving Nome empty-handed. We've got some money left over from the job, some new blood, and a hostage I caught snooping around our basement today. Should make sure we get as far away from here as we want", Jeff informed him.

"New blood?", Keith repeated, curiosity aroused.

"A couple of sled dogs from Kaasen's team; by the time he realizes they're missing we'll be long gone. It won't take long for them to get used to fighting, what with one of them being half-wolf and all", Jeff said, folding his arms in satisfaction.

"You got that half-breed?", Keith exclaimed (referring to the now famous canine everyone in Alaska was talking about), pleasantly surprised.

And Jeff nodded, flashing his dingy, yellow teeth.

"Good job. Now how about showing me that hostage you were talking about. I want to get a nice good look at her, seeing as how we'll be traveling together for quite some time after today", Keith requested.

"She's right up here", Jeff replied, gesturing towards his upstairs bedroom.

One short climb up a staircase later, the two peered inside in the felon's sleeping quarters and laid eyes on the frantic, panicking woman sitting on the floor, struggling with the ropes that bound her from top to bottom.

Keith whistled. "She's a pretty one", he commented.

"Yeah, but she's married", Jeff told him with a slight frown. "Fight all you want sweetie, you ain't getting out of those", he taunted the captive lady before closing the door on her and leaving her to finish exhausting all her energy. It just meant she'd be easier to move when the time came.

With Jeff's news all out the way, Keith gave out his own. "Russ and a few others he's sure he can trust oughta be here in half an hour, with all the sleds we'll need the move the dogs _undetected_", he informed his partner.

"I didn't say anything about any human passengers though. It'll be a tight fit, but the housewife will have to ride with us", he said; making a slight change in plans he _really_ didn't mind.

Meanwhile the housewife couldn't help the smirk that grew on her face as she heard the men leave, thinking she was going into some kind of frenzy. When really, she'd never been the hysterical type.

Instead she stood up as best she could (considering her legs were tied together), backed up (praying she wouldn't trip over anything, hurt herself, and alert the goons downstairs), and then bent her knees when she knew Jeff's bed was right behind her.

She could feel one of the bedposts poking her in the back, and bending down she slipped it underneath the ropes (being sure to really get it up in there). It wasn't a pocketknife or anything sharp she could use to cut through them, but she could use it to loosen them.

**((()-()))**

"_Get up_", a voice said impatiently.

"_Get up_", it repeated, growing more and more aggravated – and perhaps worried – as time went on.

The wolf-dog sucked in a deep breath, and tried to lift his heavy eyelids.

"_About time_", Mick grumbled.

Balto's head was throbbing, and as he started to get a sense of his surroundings he felt strangely claustrophobic – like he was boxed in. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he really was boxed in. The bars in front of him told him he was in a cage. Just like Mick, on the other side of the room.

"_Damn_", he swore in his mind. At least now he had an idea of what Thomas's day must have been like. Cramped.

But at least Thomas probably had room to move around. The more aware he became, the more Balto realized he wasn't being kept in the cage alone. There was another dog lying down beside him who's rust and cream colored fur he recognized in an instant.

"Jenna", he said, rushing to prod her awake with his snout. His gentle nudging did the trick, and the husky began to stir.

"Balto? _Ow_", she winced, as the head pain Balto was all-too familiar with began to set in.

After waiting a moment for it to subside, she got to her feet (her legs more than a bit wobbly), and Balto hovered close by in case she fell (not that he could move that far away since, again, they were in a box).

"We were knocked out again, weren't we?", she guessed.

"I'm afraid so. The guy with the frying pan got the drop on me. You?", he asked.

"The same", Jenna replied. And then she remembered something. "Where's Kaltag?", she questioned.

Balto really didn't know how to answer that. He hadn't even known Kal had been with his wife when she joined the list of dognapped dogs. The hybrid started looking around when Mick, who he'd completely forgotten about, cut his search short.

"Your friend's in the cage to your left", the husky said.

Balto looked to his left through the darkness and saw his buddy lying, knocked out, in the next cage (at least he had the advantage of having the whole thing to himself). "Kal, Kal wake up", he said softly, unable to shake him awake like he'd done with Jenna. He kept saying the same thing over and over again until Kaltag's ears pricked up and the husky moaned.

"I swear, I'm gonna murder the creep who jumped us", he growled half-heartedly, rubbing his sore head as he stood up.

"Join the club", Mick snarked.

Knowing his friends were all safe and sound (for the time being anyway), Balto could finally afford to turn all his attention to their fellow, surly inmate. "You're Jeff's dog, but you're in a cage… like the rest of us", the wolf-dog noted.

"Yep", Mick said plainly.

"You're a prisoner", the hybrid restated.

"But how can you be a prisoner when we saw you walking around town?", Jenna asked Mick.

"Wherever we go people need to believe Jeff has at least one dog so they won't suspect anything. He lets me walk free, unlike the others, because he knows I won't try to run away. He'd find me, whether I went. And it's not like I could tell the humans what was going on", the husky explained, finally losing the attitude.

"You may be off the leash, but you're still a caged animal. That's why you're always snapping at other dogs, because you want the freedom they have", Balto realized. The half-wolf would have made a good psycho-analyst.

"The freedom I'm gonna get", Mick corrected him determinedly. "Because Jeff's finally made a mistake. He's finally gonna get his'", he grinned with a mad sort of anticipation. "He took you", he told the wolf-dog. "And if you're as smart as people say you are, you've probably already thought of a way out of here, haven't you hero?", he questioned.

"Maybe", Balto replied cautiously, ambivalently. Of course Mick was right, but he wasn't going to let him know that until the husky made his intentions 100% clear.

"Take me with you. Take all of us", Mick requested.

Jenna, and Kaltag in the next cage, looked at the hybrid.

"What do you think?", Jen asked him.

"You really think that's such a good idea pal? I mean these guys have been in fights nonstop for years, and that kind of thing changes a dog. Who knows what could happen if we set them loose", Kaltag worried.

"Well we can't just leave them here and let them keep being used", Balto reasoned. Exactly the kind of stance his friends and Mick had expected him to have on the problem. "Maybe they'll turn on us, maybe they won't. But we'll just have to take that risk. Besides, I think _they_ can help _us_ out as well", the hybrid speculated.

And then he unsheathed his retractable claws. Slipping them inside the lock on his cage, he started moving them through the tumblers, shifting them. If a house dog or sled dog attempted this they'd fail, but it helped that Balto's claws were a tad sharper than your average housedog. And he'd had a lot of experience picking locks.

It took a few tries, but eventually the lock made a small clicking sound, the same one the Jones front door made, and the cage opened, freeing the wolf-dog and his wife.

"Ladies first", he said, gesturing for Jenna to go before him while Kaltag looked on in astonishment. She had no qualms about doing so; finally able to breathe again when her paws dropped to the basement floor.

Balto was right behind her, stretching his limbs for a moment before he got right down to work again on Kaltag's container.

Pretty soon all three dogs were free, and Balto, his friends flanking him, could focus on springing everyone else. "Alright Kal, let's rally the troops", he eagerly told his more reluctant teammate.

**((()-()))**

They still had quite some time before Russ was due to arrive with their get-away sleds, but Jeff and Keith wanted to get the dogs ready long before that, so the pair headed downstairs to start moving cages. They'd tend to the broad afterwards; the dogs were much more important to them.

Just as Keith was about to move one the door to a completely different cage creaked open and a malamute jumped out. The criminal jumped back and grabbed the gun in his pocket, Jeff doing the same. The spotted dog growled at them, and the felons gave each other a short passing glance, not wanting to take their eyes off the angry pooch.

"Lock must be broken", Keith speculated.

"We've had these damn things long enough", Jeff replied, thinking about how many dogs (living and deceased) had tried to break free of their metal restraints, wearing them down over time. No wonder one of the boxes finally gave out.

"Well if he comes any closer we'll be short one dog", Keith glared at the oncoming mutt.

And then that creaking noise rang out again, and a second dog joined the first on the basement floor. "You'd better make that two", Jeff said confoundedly, feeling the need to move back a bit.

"There's no way I'm shooting two of them", Keith snapped at his partner.

"Well you better do something", Jeff said, confidence wavering as the two, snarly sharp-toothed animals continued to advance, pushing them further and further backwards.

"What the hell's going on anyway?", Keith hissed.

And then the creaking sound happened again, and again, and again. More than just one or two cages opened, all the doors swung open, and pretty soon all the dogs they 'owned' were unrestrained on the floor, menacing their now outnumbered jailers.

Not even bullets would help them now.

"Keith…. maybe we should think about-", Jeff suggested sweatily, but before he could finish his partner abandoned him; running towards the stairs and leaving him to the mercy of the vengeful beasts. The mercy he wouldn't receive.

Needless to say, Jeff was right behind Keith once the criminal made the decision to turn tail, and the bloodthirsty dogs gave chase; a brown-furred, yellow-eyed wolf-dog leading them.

They sprinted up the stairs, the wild, barking canines practically nipping at their heels, and burst out the basement door. By the time it occurred to them they should have probably locked it it was too late to do so, the dogs were already pouring through like a swarm of furry locusts.

They thought about running towards the front door but the dogs blocked their path, and they beat them to the back door as well, cutting off all means of escape. Boxing them in.

Their revenge almost seemed like it was planned out, attacking the men more like a wolf pack would hunt it's prey than the impulsive, rage-driven actions they had been expecting from their victims. Though maybe that had something to do with their newest addition.

"_**The Sun's Gone Wibbly**_" by Murray Gold begins.

Trapped inside their own home, there was nowhere else to go but up. They ran to the stairs before the dogs could block them up too, and (hearing the howling and growling behind them grow closer, and louder) hid inside Jeff's bedroom, slamming the door close behind them and locking it tight just in time for the lead dog, Balto, to hit right into it.

"Ow", the wolf-dog groaned, rubbing his sore snout.

"Haha!", Keith gloated on the other side, knowing that the dogs (no matter how many of them there was) couldn't get in with two men bracing the door.

"What now?", was the most obvious question to come from a panicking Jeff's lips.

"We get out through the window, that's what", Keith quipped, looking at the other side of the room.

Jeff followed his gaze and rushed to open the nearby window while his partner watched the door.

Neither man noticed the closet door slowly inching open.

But Keith did notice the absence of a certain hostage.

"Wait… what happened to?-", he began to ask, before the man gasped and then wheezed, clawing at the ropes that had been thrown around his neck and tightened around it by the second.

When Jeff looked away from the window, he saw the unlikely sight of a thirty-something woman getting the best of an outlaw like Keith by strangling him with the very same ropes they had used to tie her up.

Keith tried to grab her from behind, but every time he got close she pulled on his throat a little harder. His vision started to go weak and spotty, and he could feel his strength leaving him. Pretty soon he'd be completely unable to fight back.

"Jeff", he rasped.

But just as his partner-in-crime had abandoned him downstairs, Jeff turned his full attention to getting the window open (knowing Evelyn could only strangle one man at a time), and dived through to safety. The two-floor drop wasn't very far, and he had plenty of snow to cushion his fall, so he actually landed on his feet.

He knew he couldn't stop running now, what with the dogs and the dame that seriously meant business just inside the house, so he headed for the fence, intending to go out the gate or climb over it, whichever he had time for.

Turned out he didn't have time for either.

He heard yet more barking more behind and the felon turned around, expecting to see Balto and the other dogs coming at him, but instead claws dug into his face. And the man shrieked.

The Calvary (AKA Nome's police department) had finally arrived, spilling into Jeff's lawn, and their four-legged helpers led the charge.

Pete, wanting to help out one of the few dogs in town he could actually stand, got to Jeff first and made sure he stopped the man from running away by scratching up his face (with claws even sharper than Balto's), over and over again.

The man's screams got the attention of everyone nearby, including Eve. When Keith's eyes finally rolled to the back of his head and she was certain he was out cold, she let him drop to the floor and ran to the window to see what had become of his partner.

Jeff managed to get his hands around Pete's torso and threw the screeching feline far, far away from him. But even then his ordeal still wasn't over.

A fist grabbed the fabric of his shirt and dragged the man forward, right into the incensed glare of a Mr. Thomas Jones (who'd wanted to make sure the police didn't let the bad guys get away). Hot steam blew out of his nostrils, that was made all the more visible by the dry winter air.

Jeff knew what was coming next, but he was hurting too much already to try to prevent it.

"_You_. Not only did you try to frame me, but you were the worst co-worker I've ever had", Thomas seethed. And then the ex-rancher from South Dakota raised his fist and vented a day's worth of frustrations by punching a menace to society square in the face.

For such a fearsome threat, the fugitive was out with one blow.

"_God that felt good_", Tom thought, huffing. He handed the limp, bleeding lawbreaker over to law enforcement.

"Good shot dear!", Eve cheered from up above.

Thomas looked up (relieved) to find his wife was perfectly fine; and had apparently caught an offender of her own. Good for her.

Meanwhile, Marcus, O'Reilly, and a few others' attention was drawn to the fifteen canines that had squeezed out of the house, single-file, through the dog door and now took up a portion of the fenced lawn.

Three of them were Balto, Jenna, and Kaltag (the only three missing from the bunch that had showed up at their precinct), but the other twelve had to be the dogs Jeff and Keith made their living on. The twelve they now had to, somehow, get back in cages again and under control.

So the case was closed, but there was still plenty of work to do. A policeman's job was never done after all.


	9. Chapter 9: Case Closed

_**Chapter 9: Cased Closed.**_

A half hour passed and Russell stopped by with the sleds, like he was paid to. And when he arrived, the police were waiting for him and his cohorts.

The mystery was solved. It turned out that in the two weeks Jeff had been working for Clancy he'd stolen one of his boss' keys long enough to get an imprint of it, put it back (unmissed), and had a copy forged with the last bit of money left over from what he had brought to Nome with him. He then gave the new key to his partner-in-crime so he could break into the store after-hours, and Keith (who actually was an expert on safecracking) stole just enough to catch a ride out of Nome and throw suspicion onto Thomas. Unfortunately their plan still backfired in the end.

The two dogfighters sat, handcuffed, in one of Russell's sleds; their faces hateful and nasty, and swearing vengeance. But really the crooks got off easy. Being incapacitated by the Jones was a better alternative than being torn to shreds by their moneymakers if they had managed to catch up with them before the police did.

The boys in blue had expected to have a hell of a hard time getting the abused mutts in line, but it turned out that wasn't the case at all. They didn't put up any fights, they didn't bite anyone, and they almost made the six or seven guns trained on them seem unnecessary. They didn't act anywhere near as savage or feral as they were supposed to.

Maybe it had something to do with their half-wolf leader, who always started barking something only they could understand whenever the lawmen approached one of them. Maybe he was the one keeping them calm.

Nah.

While cages were being loaded onto sleds to be taken to the vet, the Jones were still close by. They didn't want to leave yet, there were still a few things they wanted to know; and the spouses doubted the police would let them leave before asking them a few more questions anyway.

With the sun now setting, Evelyn focused on keeping herself warm while her husband (for a change) berated her.

"That was stupid and dangerous, and you could have gotten yourself killed!", the man scolded, sounding more concerned than he was angry.

"I just wanted to help", Evelyn quietly replied, avoiding looking her husband directly in the eyes.

Thomas, taking a deep breath and then sighing, rubbed his wife's delicate, if chilly, cheeks; his furry gloves tickling her skin a little. "And I suppose you did", he admitted.

Evy allowed herself to look up, seeing the small smile now stretched across Tom's face.

"You were a big help tonight, and even though I _never_ want you to risk your life like that again, the fact you did it for me means a lot. Thanks for looking out for me, again", he said, indebted to the woman.

"Always", she replied, cracking a smile of her own.

They'd grown and changed a lot in the fifteen years they'd been married, but one thing remained the same. If there was no one else on Earth Thomas could depend on, his beloved Evelyn would always stand by him. And vice versa.

"Of course more than me helped put those creeps away", she added, glancing behind her.

Tom followed her gaze, his grin remaining. "Yeah", he agreed, chuckling.

Balto and his friends, instead of being near the Jones, were hanging around the sleds where the sheriff's men had placed Jeff's dogs for the time being.

"I knew I could count on you guys", Balto told his buddies. He turned to Jenna. "And you", he nuzzled the husky, making her blush.

Someone cleared their throat, and everyone turned around to see it was Mick who had spoken from inside his cage.

"Wolf-dog. Before I'm sent away to god-knows-where, I want to thank you for not leaving me behind. I owe you and your friends", he said. "You too cat", he added, focusing in on the only feline in the group and grinning vindictively at the memory of his 'master' being on the receiving end of Pete's claws.

Pete didn't quite know what to make of the dog who he'd branded as troublemaker being so nice to him, a cat, and thanking him for helping him out (although he'd had no idea at the time he was lending the dog a paw), so the only reply he could think of was a short little nod-like gesture to let the husky know he appreciated his gratitude.

Thomas walked up to the Sheriff of Nome and tapped Marcus on the shoulder, tearing the lawman away from a discussion he was having with one of his fellow lawmen. "So what do you plan to do to these all the fellows?", he asked the official, gesturing to all the pent-up animals surrounding them.

"I don't know really. Usually in cases like these the dogs are so wild we have to put them down, but this bunch… there might still be hope for them. We'll have the vet sedate them and observe them for a while. If he deems them safe to be around humans again, we'll try to put them up for sale", the sheriff mused, folding his arms. "Though I don't know who would want to buy them. Even if they can be retrained, no one will want to go near them after they find out who their previous owner was", he reasoned unhappily.

Marcus may have lived in a town overrun with dogs, but he had never been a dog lover himself. That having been said, even he pitied the poor mongrels they had just discovered. They'd been used and abused all their lives, and now that their suffering was finally over it seemed their lives were either about to be too or they'd never find the kind of home they deserved.

Thomas felt exactly the same way. But the man wasn't willing to let things go like that. He thought for a moment, thinking there had to be something he could do to help, before a light bulb finally went off in his head. "I've got it. Gunnar", he said.

"Kaasen? The musher?", Marcus said, confused.

"He's gotta plenty of friends in the racing world, who train dogs from all walks of life. He can help you find homes for all these poor devils in no time at all", Tom suggested.

"Are you sure he won't mind you recommending him?", Mark asked him.

Tom shook his head. "I'll talk to him as soon as get the chance, but I know he won't mind helping a few dogs in need", the family man said with certainty. He and Kaasen may not have been friends for very long, but they had a half-wolf friend in common, and they'd had more than a few talks since the serum run. He knew Gunnar well enough now to know what sort of things he was passionate about – and dogs being mistreated were one of them.

"_**Dreams to Dream (Finale Version)**_" by James Horner begins.

He returned to Evelyn's side, now ready to return to his daughter and let her know her mother was okay, when his attention was called to his boss, who he'd all but forgotten about since they left the jailhouse/police station. To be fair, Clancy had been very quiet since then, probably coming to terms with the massive revelations of the day.

"Tom, I believe there was one more part to my apology that I didn't get around to", his employer told him.

"Right", Tom remembered, almost yawning, but not out of boredom. The sun was going down, he didn't get to spend the day sleeping like he'd planned to, and all that fear and worry that had kept him going through the day was starting to go away. So naturally he was starting to feel tired again.

He perked right up again though when Clancy grabbed his hand, opened his palm and dropped (not a key) but a small stack of cash in it.

"What's this?", Tom asked, already knowing what it was but disbelieving.

"A raise. You've worked for me for years so it's overdue anyway, and considering how hard you've been working and how much trouble you've had today, all of which was entirely my fault, and how you helped capture the thieves who robbed my store, I'd say you've earned this", Clancy said apologetically.

"There should be enough here to pay your daughter's medical bills and get you some sleeping pills, since I'm also giving you the week off – starting tomorrow", he continued, Tom and Eve's eyes getting bigger and bigger the more he went on. "And don't you say you can't accept it because I'm not giving it to you out of guilt; I want to thank you too", the store owner insisted.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't turn this down even if you paid me", Thomas exclaimed, grinning almost like the Cheshire-cat before he gripped Clancy's hand and shook it like crazy while his wife giggled. "Thank you so much sir", he said to the very same boss/friend he'd been arguing with that morning.

The days' debacle was already behind the employer and employee, but this was the final peace offering that smoothed things over for good. Stuff between the two of them was going to be alright from now on. Clancy would have to look for some more help again, and Tom hoped he would do a background check this time.

Tom and Eve, having spoken to everyone they wanted/needed to, were finally ready to depart, and called their pair of dogs to them so they could leave. Jenna came immediately (her and her husband saying good-bye to their friends) but Balto paused half-way to his owners and looked back at Mick one last time. The dog he'd liberated, but also the dog whose fate was currently unknown.

And you know what?

Mick was okay was that.

He didn't care what road lied ahead. He had his freedom, and that's all that really mattered to him.

And if he felt he had nothing to worry about, Balto decided he didn't need to worry for him either.

Grinning, the half-breed followed his wife, ready to go home.

**((()-()))**

It was 5:30 by the time the entire Jones family actually made it home (the sun completely absent from the dark blue sky outside) and they were all physically and mentally exhausted. Tom, Eve, and Rosie sank into the couch in their living room, deciding to rest up a bit before they went to go cook dinner and fill their bellies. And then they decided to rest their eyes.

They were out almost immediately; the family leaning against each other for support as they all got some well-deserved sleep. They probably wouldn't wake until morning, when it was time to cook breakfast. It was a funny if heartwarming sight.

Balto and Jenna on the other hand laid down in front of the fireplace, getting nice and toasty and reflecting on the day's events like they so often did at the end of every ending.

Balto, lying behind the husky, rested his head on Jenna's side. "Jen… you know how I said I would enjoy the peace and quiet of a housedog's life?", he asked reluctantly.

His spouse had a fairly good idea about where he was going, just from the way he brought up the subject. "You don't?" she guessed.

"I do", Balto insisted. "But some part of me kinda enjoyed solving this mystery", he continued. "I was worried about everyone the whole time. But despite the danger and everything, I'll admit I liked helping those guys out and putting those crooks away. And how… exciting it all was", the wolf-dog explained, ears lowering rather bashfully. "Just like Kal said", he added. "That's pretty messed up, huh?", he asked jokingly, but still embarrassed and almost feeling guilty about what he had just confessed.

"Well if it is, then there's something wrong with me too. Cause my feelings are about the same", Jenna replied, unashamed. She rolled over to face the hybrid, turning her back to the fire.

"Let's face facts Balto. You like helping people, you always have. You just can't help yourself, that's why you're always getting into trouble. And you like to get your blood pumping every now and then. It's probably one of the reasons why being a sled dog has always been so appealing to you – the adventurous lifestyle", Jenna rationalized. "But it's okay to like both it and the quiet life so long as you balance the two", she said.

"The best of both worlds?", Balto asked. And his wife nodded.

"I figure I must love it too, since I married you", Jenna mused.

Balto raised his eyebrows and a tiny mischievous grin appeared on his lips before the wolf-dog let his features droop 'disappointingly'. "And here I thought you said 'I do' because you loved me, not cause you needed to get your fix", he pouted.

His overacting did make Jenna laugh (it always had). She moved in closer to the half-breed, beaming. "You _are_ my fix Balto. I'll never get enough", she declared. "Especially of this", she added, barely audible, before she leaned in and captured Balto in a soft, chaste kiss.

And Balto had to admit, he was hooked as well.

He'd lived married life for a week now and it was still so surreal to him. Perhaps it always would be.

After all, what had he ever done to deserve such a woman as Jenna?

Smart, beautiful, a good sense of humor, devoted. Nobody was perfect, but Jen was as close to the perfect woman as the half-breed could imagine. And for someone who had always thought they'd be alone, she was a blessing.

They'd survived another near-death experience. He was certain there'd be plenty more to come. And yet the idea didn't bother him that much. His mentality now was to just let them come.

He had friends, he had family – the loved ones who'd helped him through so many rough times now, the loved ones he'd never take for granted. And with them by his side there was nothing he couldn't face.

Because as it corny as it sounded, love truly did conquer all.

The End.

_**Author's Notes:**_

And that's the end of another Heritage fic. I hope you all enjoyed it, and again it won't take nearly as long for me to post the next one. I'd like to thank Mojotheomegawolf, WolfdogmeetstheLionKing, BrytheSpy, Brasta Septim, Balto1, Kodiwolf321, and AniUniverse for all their support. As well as new reviewers Wolf Assassin 7477, Lt. Jenkins, Fabriana, Balto Fan, Diesel Weasel, and Noble Writer. Like I said in "_**Perfect**_", it's because of you guys that writing a story for the Balto category feels like coming again. See you soon, The Cool Kat.


End file.
